South Korea has introduced its first humanoid robot. It has been named Gabi and is the world’s first humanoid robot monk. The robot was formally inducted as a disciple of Buddhism in an initiation ceremony at the Jogye Temple in the capital Seoul. The video of this combination of AI and religion is going viral. In the video, the robot appears in front of the stage wearing a traditional robe, where he is garlanded and initiated to become a disciple for initiation. The robot will also be introduced in the celebration of Buddha Purnima. ‘Gabi’ can pronounce mantras. Based on China’s Unitree G1 humanoid platform, ‘Gabi’ has a human-like body. It can walk easily and talk through gestures. It is also capable of chanting mantras and bowing in rituals. Gabi has been developed by the Jogye Order, South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect. Its main objective is to modernize Buddhism in the digital age and connect the young generation with the religion. The 130 cm tall robot wore the traditional gray and brown robes worn by monks. When a senior monk asked Gabi if he would dedicate himself to Buddhism, the robot replied, ‘Yes, I will dedicate myself.’ After this, the robot folded his hands and bowed before everyone and the senior monks placed a garland of 108 pearls around his neck. Rituals were performed like humans, only the head was not shaved. Usually when a person becomes a monk, a symbolic mark is made on his head with incense sticks, but in the case of the robot, a symbolic sticker was used instead. According to the Jogye Order, the name ‘Gabi’ is a combination of Gautam Buddha’s childhood name ‘Siddhartha’ and the Korean word ‘daya’. It has been designed to be easy to pronounce and to spread the message of Buddha’s compassion. Ven, the head of cultural affairs of the Jogye Order, is trying to achieve coordination between humans and machines. Seong Won said that this was done to see whether humans and robots could live together in the future. This is just the beginning to prepare society to live with AI technology. He said that although it may seem unusual now, such efforts will help society adapt to artificial intelligence in the future. Gabi will also take part in the Lantern Festival later this month along with other robots. The interference of robots is increasing in every industry. This debut of Gabi has happened at a time when the use of humanoid robots is increasing all over the world in tasks related to common people. Recently, Japan Airlines has started testing AI robots for baggage handling. At the same time, Facebook’s parent company Meta has also acquired robotics startup ‘Assured Robot Intelligence’, so that it can strengthen its hold in this field.
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